The Affordable Care Act is here to stay

By: Center for American Progress

The Decision:

· The Court voted 6-3 to hold that the Affordable Care Act’s tax credits are available in ALL states.

· The opinion was written by Chief Justice Roberts, who was joined by Justices Kennedy, Ginsburg, Breyer, Kagan, and Sotomayor.

· Justice Scalia dissented, joined by Justices Thomas and Alito.

·  The Court’s opinion was based on interpreting the law as written and did NOT rely on Chevron deference.

Read it: http://www.supremecourt.gov/opinions/14pdf/14-114_qol1.pdf

What it means in Plain English:

· The opinion is a VERY strong, definitive endorsement of the law.

· The legal challenges to the Affordable Care Act are OVER.

· The opinion concludes that there is only ONE proper interpretation based on the statute’s text, structure, and purpose.

· Only Congress, not a future Republican administration’s IRS, can change the law.

Key points:

· The Supreme Court has spoken – twice. The Affordable Care Act is the law of the land and it’s here to stay.

·  The Affordable Care Act is working and it’s here to stay. It’s time to stop refighting the battles of the past and time to start building on the success of providing health coverage to more than 16 million Americans and countless benefits and protections to more than 100 million other Americans.

·  It’s time for Republicans and their allies to accept reality. No more frivolous lawsuits. No more wasting time on dozens of pointless repeal votes. No more refusing to expand Medicaid. No more excuses, period.

· Republicans continue to treat the Supreme Court like an arm of the Republican Congress. We hope that in the future, the Court will not allow itself to be drawn into partisan political battles that threaten its legitimacy as an institution and the legacies of the Justices themselves.

The Affordable Care Act is working:

· More than 16 million Americans have health coverage, many for the first time, thanks to the ACA, including over 10 million consumers who are enrolled through the marketplaces.

· 85 percent of consumers who purchases coverage through the marketplace received a tax credit, with the average consumer receiving $272 each month to help them purchase quality, affordable coverage.

· This year, more than 80 percent of consumers using Healthcare.gov could purchase a plan for less than $100 a month or less after tax credits.

· The percentage of uninsured Americans has plummeted, thanks to the Affordable Care Act. According to Gallup, the uninsured rate is now 11.9 percent, a decrease of nearly 35 percent since the ACA’s major provisions went into effect.

· 81 percent of ACA enrollees report that they are satisfied with their plans.

· More than 60 percent of ACA enrollees say that they would not have been able to access or afford care without their ACA coverage.

· More than 100 million Americans who have preexisting conditions can never be denied coverage again, no matter where they get their insurance, thanks to the ACA.

· An estimated 55 million women are benefiting from preventive services coverage, including contraception, with no out-of-pocket costs. The ACA also made it illegal to charge women more just because of their gender, meaning that being a woman is no longer a pre-existing condition.

· 9.4 million seniors on Medicare have saved over $15 billion on prescription drugs since the law’s enactment, for an average savings of $1,598 per person.

· 2.4 million young people have been able to stay on their parents’ insurance until they turn 26.

· The cost of uncompensated care in hospitals was reduced last year by more than $7 billion, thanks to the ACA. If all states expanded Medicaid, it could be reduced by almost $9 billion next year.

· Since the first full year of the implementation of the ACA, we have seen the slowest growth in real per capita health care spending on record. Long-term spending estimates for federal health care spending have been reduced by hundreds of billions of dollars.

Think Progress: The Supreme Court’s Obamacare Decision Is the Biggest Possible Win for the Obama Administration

Public Allies Miami Celebrated the 8th Graduating Class through Presentations of Learning

Public Allies Miami Celebrated the 8th Graduating Class through Presentations of Learning

Twelve AmeriCorps members made public presentations of their learning and leadership experience.

MIAMI – On June 22 and 23, Catalyst Miami hosted the AmeriCorps Public Allies Presentations of Learning at Jungle Island in Miami. During the two-day event, twelve Public Allies made public declarations of how they made a difference in South Florida and grew as leaders before an audience of nonprofit colleagues, friends, family, and prospective Public Allies.

Speakers at this event included The Children's Trust CEO Charles Auslander, introductions from Opa-Locka Community Development Corporation, Florida Immigrant Coalition, The University of Miami, The Children's Movement of Florida, and more. Public Allies Miami received a proclamation in honor of the 8th local graduating class from Miami-Dade County Commissioner, Audrey M. Edmonson, naming Tuesday, June 23, 2015 “Public Allies Miami Day.” 

Public Allies are local young adults who are devoted to making a difference in South Florida. Their 10-month apprenticeships at local nonprofit organizations allow them to hone their leadership skills while gaining meaningful professional experience. Graduating AmeriCorps Public Ally, Kareena Rozier, said, "I now have a deeper understanding of the connections that hold us together and the factors that drive us apart. Of the work I’ve done recently, I feel most confident about becoming a more committed, passionate, and engaged community member."

Public Allies' mission is to advance new leadership to strengthen communities, nonprofits and civic participation. Public Allies is changing the face and practice of leadership in communities across the country by demonstrating our conviction that everyone can lead, and that lasting social change results when citizens of all backgrounds

step up, take responsibility, and work together. 

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Catalyst Miami is a nonprofit organization aiming to build a just and equitable Miami where all residents are meaningfully engaged. Our programs and services empower families and strengthen our communities. Follow us @CatalystMiami.

From Charleston to Ft. Lauderdale: Solidarity Vigil

Press Advisory: Tuesday, June 23rd
Media Contacts: Elizabeth Taveras, lizmarietav@gmail.com, 305-721-9661
Cassia Laham, cassia.laham@gmail.com, 954-562-8263

 

From Charleston to Ft. Lauderdale:
Solidarity Vigil

South Florida Activists host vigil for victims of Charleston Shooting

WHO: Community members and religious leaders, People's Opposition to War, Imperialism, and Racism, Miami-Dade and Broward Green Party

WHAT: South Florida activists host vigil in the wake of terror attack in Charleston, NC

WHEN: Tuesday, June 23rd, from 6:00PM to 8:30PM

WHERE: African American Research Library and Cultural Center, 2650 W Sistrunk Boulevard, Ft. Lauderdale, FL 33311

Miami, FL - On Tuesday, June 22nd, the South Florida community will demonstrate its opposition to racism and racist violence. The racially motivated attack that claimed nine lives in Charleston, SC was a national tragedy. The African Methodist Episcopal (AME) Church that was targeted in Charleston was a historically black church. Vigils are being held throughout the country to remember the lives that were lost that night in Charleston.

These are the names of the 9 lives to commemorate: Reverend and South Carolina State Senator, Clementa Pinckney, 41, employer at the Charleston County Public Library, Cynthia Hurd, 54, Reverend, local high school track coach, and mother of three, Sharonda Coleman-Singleton, 45, Tywanza Sanders, 26, died while protecting other members of his family, Myra Thompson, 59, Ethel Lee Lance, 70, Susie Jackson, 87, Daniel L. Simmons, 74, and Depayne Middleton Doctor, 49.

South Florida takes a stand and unites with communities throughout the country in remembering the victims of this attack, denouncing racism and fighting against the institutions that maintain it.

"Racism will not disappear on it's own, it's our job, the people's job, to eliminate it. The government is doing nothing to make sure black and brown communities feel safe from racist terrorists and vigilantes. So we have to make them listen through united actions like this one," said Cassia Laham, community activist and organizer of People's Opposition to War, Imperialism, and Racism.

We will meet at the African-American Research Library And Cultural Center on Sistrunk Blvd in Fort Lauderdale (corner of Sistrunk Blvd and NW 27th Avenue) for a VIGIL at 6:00pm remembering the victims of the Charleston Massacre. The vigil will be followed by a rally against national oppression and racist violence in the US.

 

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CHN: Immigration Programs Remain Blocked, For Now

On May 26, a panel of the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals denied the Department of Justice’s request for an emergency stay of a lower court’s decision temporarily blocking two of the biggest initiatives under President Obama’s executive action on immigration. The circuit court’s decision will keep the expanded Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) program and the Deferred Action for Parents of Americans and Lawful Permanent Residents (DAPA) program from being implemented for the time being. It doesn’t mean, however, that these programs are dead in the water; the Fifth Circuit is scheduled to hear oral arguments on the Justice Department’s formal appeal of the district court’s decision the week of July 6. A Texas federal district court judge issued the ruling blocking the implementation of these programs in February while a lawsuit challenging the president’s November executive action made its way through the courts.

Advocates were disappointed with the circuit court’s ruling but believe that expanded DACA and DAPA will ultimately be implemented. The National Immigration Law Center and other advocates have been working hard to remind immigrants that the ruling does not impact the “Dreamer” children who were granted relief from deportation under the 2012 DACA program. The Texas court’s ruling also doesn’t impact the executive action’s direction to immigration agents to focus deportation efforts on felons, not families. The expanded DACA and DAPA initiatives, if allowed to go forward, would mean millions of undocumented immigrants would no longer have to worry about being deported and would be able to come out of the shadows, work legally, get better jobs, pay taxes and stop living in fear.

Stay tuned to the Human Needs Report and CHN’s blog, Voices for Human Needs, for updated information.

To read more from the CHN's Human Needs Report, click here.